FSR August 2023

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3 Chili’s CEO Kevin Hoch man began his tenure in June 2022, and his impact was immediate. The indus try veteran entered the brand with big initiatives, like the reduction of deep discounting, cutting costs in the back of house, and rethink ing the company’s approach to vir tual brands and technological ini tiatives. When Hochman joined last year, Chili's discounted items mixed 37 percent; now the chain is around 29 percent. Chili’s dis continued virtual concept Maggia CHILI’S

APPLEBEE’S

4 Tony Moralejo, after three years as president of Dine Brands’ inter national segment, assumed the president role in January when John Cywinski headed to QDOBA. He stepped into a rocky oper ating environment. On the positive side, the chain closed 2022 with same-store sales growth of 1.7 percent—its eighth straight period of positive gains. It also lapped a previous year result of 9.1 percent over 2019. However, Applebee’s, which closed about 300 under performing U.S. units across a five-year stretch, had to scale back previous plans to hit net unit growth in 2023. Yet it still believes it’ll open more stores than last year, only with a net loss of 10–20 outlets. But even with macro economic pressures stalling development, the brand continues to serve a resilient guest. The eight-quarter streak stretched into nine to begin 2023, with comps rising 5.1 percent. And Applebee’s told investors it held its No. 1 ranking across key consumer metrics like convenience and variety, per the company’s proprietary third-party tracker. Brand awareness was at an all time high thanks to affordability and menu breadth. Sales rode promotions and abundant value programs, giving management reason to not only be optimistic, but to feel insulated against whatever challenge comes next. 5 Within the past year, Buffalo Wild Wings has been no stranger to menu innovation. In June 2022, the sit-down sports bar chain launched Happy Hour and its new Bird Dawgs—hand-breaded chicken tenders on a brioche bun, loaded with sauces and top pings. The chain followed that up a month later with its Saucy Chicken Sandwich, taking a page out of the quick-service playbook. The major difference being the chicken can be covered in any of the brand's 26 signature sauces. Then, in August 2022, the casual-dining chain entered the pizza category with its Boneless Bar Pizza, an item featuring a thin-crust base topped with boneless wings. It also rolled out General Tso's and Sweet Chili Lime sauces ahead of summer.

DINE BRANDS GLOBAL

BRINKER INTERNATIONAL

no’s Italian Classics to focus more on dine-in and suspended test ing of “Rita the Robot." Cost sav ings cleared the way for Chili’s to implement TV advertising for the first time in three years.

BUFFALO WILD WINGS

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